Penguins beat the NJ Devils, 5-1

The Penguins notched their first home win, 5-1, against the New Jersey Devils this afternoon at Consol Energy Center.

After a scoreless first period, the Penguins took a 1-0 lead at 2:27 of the second period on Brandon Sutter’s first goal as a Penguin.

He launched a shot from between the hash marks that Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur stopped. Sutter and the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby rushed to the edge of the crease and both batted at the rebound. Sutter got his stick on the puck and tapped it between Brodeur’s pads.

A New Jersey turnover led to the Penguins taking a 2-0 lead. Anton Volchenkov partially whiffed on a pass to defense partner Bryce Salvador in the Devils end, and Chris Kunitz found himself with the puck on his stick alone in the slot.

Kunitz scorched the puck past Brodeur ta 9:56 of the second period.

The Penguins’ power play, which has struggled much of this season, gave up a shorthanded goal at 12:23 of the second period.

Dainius Zubrus, from along the boards, found fellow penalty-killer Andy Greene streaking down the slot alone. Greene beat Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury on the stick side to make it 2-1.

The Penguins pushed their lead to 3-1 at 2:31 of the third period. Evgeni Malkin forced a turnover behind the New Jersey net and got the puck to Kunitz, who set up Kris Letang.

Letang, alone in the slot, launched a shot that wove through traffic.

Crosby made it 4-1 at 7:11 of the third period when he scored from the left dot on a two-on-one break with Pascal Dupuis.

Robert Bortuzzo, a rookie defenseman, got his first NHL goal, on a blast through traffic from just inside the blue line, to make it 5-1 at 9:51 of the third period.